Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, on his new responsibilities and wish him all the best in this new role. Furthermore, I express my thanks to the Minister of State and his officials for the general defence briefing I received last week. It is clear that the Minister of State will be well served by his officials and I greatly appreciate the courtesy shown to me by him and his officials.

This is my first outing in this House as my party's spokesperson on defence and it is a great honour for me, especially in view of my own service in the Reserve Defence Force for many years. I want to say very clearly to all my friends, and now former colleagues, in the Defence Forces, regardless of whether they are Permanent or Reserve, that my party and I value their work and take enormous pride in their achievements at home and abroad. We are on their side. We firmly believe that our Defence Forces are of critical importance for both State and society and it is my view that we need greater appreciation of the social benefits for both the community and members of our Defence Forces.

In that light and on the basis of that belief, I want to give the following message to the Government and the Minister of State with responsibility for defence. I wish to make it clear to him that I mean him no disrespect whatsoever because the allocation of political responsibility for defence is not his decision. There is great disappointment in the Defence Forces at the absence of a Cabinet-level Minister for Defence. While the Taoiseach is nominally the Minister for Defence, he has effectively subcontracted out the Department to a Minister of State. It is not good enough and it clearly indicates that the Government does not properly value and respect the Defence Forces. I am sorry to have to say this but this is the reality and it would be remiss of me to let this opportunity pass without mentioning it.

Five years ago, the Taoiseach got it wrong when he gave the same Cabinet Minister responsibility for justice and defence, despite it being a norm in democratic countries to separate political responsibility for the military and the police. He rectified that mistake in 2014 and I hope he rectifies this latest mistake at the earliest opportunity.

Turning to the motion, Fianna Fáil is committed to strengthening the Defence Forces in terms of numbers and in capability. Part of this involves participation in battle groups, which we in Fianna Fáil support. We support this motion, just as we supported the motion last October. The participation of our forces in this battle group is far more modest than when Dáil approval was sought last year when 175 members were due to be involved. On this occasion, the Dáil is approving the involvement of five personnel.

Participation in battle groups presents a valuable opportunity for our soldiers to enhance their skills and for us to maintain modern defence forces. Every time we participate in such a group, there are the usual warnings about our neutrality being undermined. We obviously do not accept this position. Any actual Irish participation in a battle group action can only take place under the same auspices as any other overseas participation - that the triple lock comes into play, namely, the approval of the Government, the Dáil and the mission being endorsed by the United Nations Security Council. Support for and retention of the triple lock prior to the deployment of the Defence Forces is a fundamental element of Fianna Fáil defence policy and we hope it is fully endorsed by the Fine Gael party in government.

We have rightly given primacy to the UN since we joined more than 60 years ago. In that time, we have worked with other UN members to support international action in areas such as disarmament, peacekeeping, humanitarian actions and human rights implementation. We are strong and committed supporters of collective security through the United Nations. We have a long tradition of overseas service in support of UN or UN-mandated deployments in pursuit of international peace and security since the first Defence Forces deployment abroad in 1958 and the battle group continues this tradition. Thus far, of course, no EU battle group has deployed in a mandated mission.

As Fianna Fáil has pointed out previously, overseas service deployments by the Defence Forces are a pivotal element of both Irish foreign policy and for the attainment of Defence Forces operational capability across a wide spectrum of challenging military, geopolitical and geo-strategic environments. Our Defence Forces personnel of all ranks have shined, and continue to shine, in overseas deployments. We are internationally recognised for the high quality of our Defence Forces members. The sustained participation of Defence Forces members is indispensable for individual and unit professional development, unit operational viability and cohesion.

The nature of overseas deployments since 1958 has, of course, changed substantially over the decades and yet they have been perceived by the public as being mainly a form of "armed humanitarianism". There is, of course, far more to it than that. Military service, most particularly in the trouble spots of the world where the Defence Forces now deploy, is dangerous and challenging. We must always keep that in mind and that means that our military personnel need to be trained, armed, equipped, resourced, led and supported appropriately.

My party and I are happy to support this motion, just as we are happy to support our Defence Forces in their endeavours on our behalf.

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